1.1.3-Kingedmundsroyalmurder
Brick!club: of parables, education, and donkeys So this chapter talks about monsigneur l’Eveque doing his rounds in order to spread the Word and make sure everyone is behaving well. Most people have touched on what I noticed so I won’t go into it a whole lot. Obviously the Bishop being snarky about the donkey is great, and brings home the differences between how he is seen by his parishioners and how he actually is. This exchange is kind of the flip side of the one we saw last chapter when he asked for the carriage money: the mayor of Senez is scandalized that he’s not spending enough money while the people in Digne itself were irritated that he wanted more of it. Both of them are fundamentally missing the point and M. Bienvenu is quite willing to tell them this. He’s actually remarkably brave, though he’s quiet about it. First he stands up to Napoleon, then he fairly gleefully flaunts all the expectations for what he’s supposed to be as a Bishop, and now he’s basically riding up to rich important people and going, “You’re doing it wrong.” I also like that Mlle. Baptistine and Mme. Magloire go with him most of the time. He’s officially the head of the household, but he does seem to respect the women as his equals, for all that he gave them no say in whether or not they wanted to take part in his self-imposed poverty. I would actually be really interested to know what the people of Digne think of Mlle. Baptistine, honestly. This was interesting: “Il ne mettait aucune vertu sur un plateau inaccessible.” (He did not place any virtues on an inaccessible pedestal.) The idea that anyone can be redeemed and that it’s your choices rather than your past that define who you are and who you will be is one that I suspect will be coming up a lot in this book, and that starts with the concept that everyone can be saved. M. Bienvenu is basically going, “all of you have worth as human beings and all of you can be good and just and virtuous regardless of your station in life or where you come from.” That is rare. Like, that attitude is one that’s sometimes hard to find now, much less in the 19th century. (I’m not a historian, so I could be wrong about that, but I know at least in British history there’s this pervasive notion that the poor are fundamentally less good and virtuous than the rich and that therefore it’s okay to be terrible to them.) Hugo is heavy-handed with his themes, so I’m not all that surprised to see him stating it so plainly. There’s also more of his focus on education, which I like. He basically says there’s no excuse for ignorance and then actually provides solutions for the problem, which is nice. One of my favorite things about the Bishop is that he doesn’t just go, “you’re doing it wrong” he goes, “you’re doing it wrong and here’s how to do it better.” ETA: I need to stop saying I won’t talk a lot because clearly that’s a lie. Sorry guys. Commentary Sarah1281 I’m curious: what do you mean that he both treated the other two women as equals and yet gave them no say in anything? Just that he let his servant (and presumably his sister if she ever cared to) speak her mind to him? Kingedmundsroyalmurder (reply to Sarah1281's reply) I mostly meant that he does actually genuinely seem to respect their opinions and consider them his equals but he considers some things more important than that. Like I do think it was fairly thoughtless of him to make them both live on such a tight budget without consulting them, but I don’t think he did that because he thought himself above them. I think he did it because it probably didn’t even occur to him to do anything else. (Actually I kind of think that the Bishop probably considers everyone his equal. He doesn’t seem to shy away from speaking his mind or criticizing. He was pointy at the Emperor himself, after all.) Doeskin-pantaloons There is this horrible frustrating thing where the Hapgood I am reading online skips the line: “He did not place any virtues on an inaccessible pedestal.” I have no idea why.